Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia (BL) is highly treatable, but most of the standard therapies require multiple doses of intensive chemotherapy that may require long hospital stays and frequently have severe side effects. In addition, BL is a fairly common type of cancer in patients who also have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but treatment outcomes are poor because standard treatments do not work very well in HIV-positive patients and the more intense treatment regimens are highly toxic. New approaches are needed that expand the ways to treat BL with the same efficiency but with reduced side effects.

DA-EPOCH-R is a standard chemotherapy treatment that consists of the drugs etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and rituximab. It may be able to treat BL with similar effectiveness but with fewer side effects. Researchers are interested in confirming the results of previous studies that investigated the effectiveness of DA-EPOCH-R in treating BL.

Objectives:

- To determine the safety and effectiveness of DA-EPOCH-R in treating Burkitt lymphoma.

Eligibility:

- Individuals at least 18 years of age who have been diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma and have not had any prior chemotherapy treatments.

Design:

Individuals will have a series of blood and other tests to determine their suitability for participating in the study. Eligible participants will be divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on their disease prognosis and the possibility that the BL may or already has spread into the central nervous system.

Participants will receive intravenous infusion of the six chemotherapy drugs in DA-EPOCH-R in 21-day treatment cycles. The exact doses will be adjusted depending on participants white blood cell counts and other tests.

High-risk participants will receive six cycles of DA-EPOCH-R. To treat BL that may have entered the central nervous system, high-risk participants will also receive infusions of other chemotherapy drugs into their spinal fluid.

Low-risk participants will receive up to six cycles of DA-EPOCH-R, with an additional dose of rituximab during each cycle.

Frequent blood and urine tests will be performed during treatment, as well as body imaging scans and other tests of cancer progression as directed by the study doctors. Participants will receive additional medicines to help prevent possible adverse side effects of DA-EPOCH-R.

Participants who respond successfully to the treatment will be asked to return for follow-up exams every 3 months for the first 18 months, then every year for the next 3 years. Participants who do not respond successfully to the treatment will be given the opportunity to participate in additional research and treatment protocols, if any are available.

-Patients must have Burkitt Lymphoma. Effective with Amendment J (version date: 06/24/2014), the following histologies were removed as the maximum number allowed for these sub-groups has been reached: B-cell lymphoma: unclassifiable with features intermediate between Diffuse Large B cell lymphoma and Burkitt Lymphoma ; c-MYC + DLBCL and c-MYC+ plasmablastic lymphoma.

Age greater than or equal to 18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of EPOCH-R in patients < 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study, but may be eligible for future pediatric trials

Pathology confirmed by treating institution s Pathology Department.

No prior treatment except patients may be entered if they have had prior limited-field radiotherapy, a short course of glucocorticoids, cyclophosphamide for an urgent problem at diagnosis (e.g. epidural cord compression, superior vena cava syndrome) and/or a single dose of intrathecal methotrexate (MTX) at the time of the pre-treatment diagnostic lumbar puncture.

All disease stages.

HIV negative or positive.

HIV positive patients on antiretrovival therapy regimen must be willing to suspend all Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) except in circumstances described in section 6.5.

ECOG 0-4

Ability of patient or durable power of attorney (DPA) for healthcare to give informed consent.

Hepatitis B + patients may be enrolled at the discretion of the investigator.

Inadequate hepatic or hematological function: bilirubin greater than 2 mg/dl (total) except greater than 5 mg/dl in patients with Gilbert s syndrome as defined by greater than 80% unconjugated; ANC less than 1000 and platelets less than 75,000 unless lymphoma related.

The effects of EPOCH-R on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because chemotherapy agents are known to be teratogenic, female subject of child-bearing potential not willing to use an acceptable method of birth control(i.e., a hormonal contraceptive, intra-uterine device, diaphragm with spermicide, condom with spermicide, or abstinence) for the duration of the study and one year beyond treatment completion will not be eligible to participate in the study.

Female subject pregnant or breast-feeding. Confirmation that the subject is not pregnant must be established by a negative serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) pregnancy test result obtained during screening. Pregnancy testing is not required for women without child-bearing potential.

The effects of EPOCH-R on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because chemotherapy agents are known to be teratogenic, male subject unwilling to use an acceptable method for contraception for the duration of the study and one year beyond treatment completion, will not be eligible to participate in the study.

Serious concomitant medical illnesses that would jeopardize the patient's ability to receive the regimen with reasonable safety.

HIV positive patients with advanced immune supression and evidence of HIV resistant to all combinations of antiretroviral therapy considered at high risk of non lymphoma related death within 12-months due to other AIDS complications should not be enrolled on the study.

Contacts and Locations

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01092182